Ask ze German

[Pyrrho]

I don't remember if this has been covered, but since you have spent time in the U.S., what do you think the biggest misconceptions are that Americans have about Germans?

Hmm. Depends on where you go. So, when I spent time in Midland TX, people, especially the uneducated ones, had the craziest ideas about Germany. A substitute teacher asked me in all seriousness whether w'all got TeyVey or Refrigerators.

The saddest part of that story is that it was a teacher.

(Of course, there is this kernel of truth, in that the U.S. had TV before Germany, which explains why German analog TV was in some respects superior to American analog TV [being newer technology], including, for example, more lines of resolution. But Germany has had TV for a very long time, and one would have to be pretty clueless to be asking you such a question at any time during your life.)

People had told me stories about that level of misconception before I went, but I had assumed they were exaggerating.

Never underestimate the stupidity and ignorance of many Americans. I imagine you will not make that mistake again.

In the same category, not everyone was quite sure whether we were all Nazis.

That is a sad thing that I have noticed, that many idiots equate "German" with "Nazi," which was never the truth at any point in history. Many people, for example, know nothing about the number of Germans who sacrificed their lives in attempts at assassinating Hitler both before and during WWII (note that the long list at the link is only a partial list; see text at link); one must really hate someone to make such an attempt, and we may expect that there were others who likewise hated Hitler, but were never in a position to make a serious attempt.

Oddly, in west TX, people would not have minded as much as you'd think.

Unfortunately, I have been to Texas, and am aware of that.

Actually, a bunch of them thought I was russian.  Germans apparently don't look exactly as they expected, possibly bc of weird hollywood casting decisions.
But those are low hanging fruit.

Others think Germans are often inflexible and have no sense of humor. While that is not true for many individuals, I believe there is something to it.

Please elaborate on that.

My impressions from when I visited Germany (over 30 years ago) were that, generally speaking, Germans worked hard, and played hard. There were plenty of celebrations that involved drinking and having a good time. When focused on work, they seemed to be very serious about that, but that only means that they were not joking when doing something serious. Again, this is a general impression, not a universal, absolute truth, and, of course, I cannot say that I met with a representative sample either.

So, I could see someone believing that if one only interacted with Germans when they were working, but otherwise, I do not see that.

The college crowd in NY was not so much wondering about Nazis and Refrigerators, but was more interested in the prevalence of scat porn - which is arguably not as high as the average frat boy would like to think.

That I did not know about. I am not sure that my ignorance on that was a bad thing, so I don't think I will be making any inquires on that. (I was, however, aware that, generally speaking, Germans are not as prudish as Americans. It was apparent with the nudity shown on TV there that would not have been normally shown on broadcast TV here.)

After 9/11 and the whole freedom fries thing, many Americans I encountered were afraid that they would be hated in Germany. In reality, most Germans while pissed off by Bush, (at least secretly) love America.

Given the history of America and Germany since WWII, that is not surprising. America spent a good amount of time and money and effort helping rebuild Germany for many years after the war, and I am sure that has left a lasting impression. Of course, it was not perfectly done, but it was overall a very good thing, which has been good for the world as a whole, not just Germany. So I think it will take more than one or two annoying Presidents to undo the goodwill that exists.

The very large numbers of Americans who were stationed there until a few years ago were generally welcomed and are dearly missed economically.

I had not thought of that. I did not much care for most of the Americans I met while in Germany, so much so that when someone asked me if I were English, I was greatly tempted to say "yes" because I did not want to be associated with the Americans I saw there. But, being generally honest, I told the truth anyway.

Ok how about this, you guys write what you think which stereotypical properties Germans have, and I and, as an objective observer, the Austrian guy, comment on it?

You could tell us about Austria as well. I enjoyed my visits there also, but spent much less time there than in Germany.


Anyway, you can comment on the impressions I stated above, and tell me that I have everything wrong, that Germans do not have plenty of celebrations involving public drinking and etc.!